News

As everyone will hopefully have seen the GCN over the past few months has taken on a new lease of life. Our ever increasing discount packages has seen new clubs come in far and wide

So as the first of a new feature on GCN clubs lets find out about the GCN's furthest club Kælderklubben in Denmark.

So a few words from Lasse.

Kælderklubben was founded by myself, Lasse Hansen, in 2009 and translates in english as "the Basement club". It was intended to rid a world of battles fought with armies consisting of pieces of paper, empty bases or Goblins acting as Chaos Warriors, Ogres or something else. Too many times have we asked "can I shoot over that piece of paper?" or "are those spearmen or swordsman on that base?"

Initially we went for payment on attendance at any club oriented get-togethers but quickly we realised that member’s lack of coins in their wallets led to many "payment reminders". Even though the club existed for a few years nothing really happend clubwise and the few collected funds were not really being used for anything.

In 2012 we reinvented the club and charged a monthly fee with the intent of improving our wargaming, specifically Warhammer, facilities. Very few had the money needed for a playable army while many wanted to play. So our goal for the club was specifically to collect armies and, over time, terrain to be available for loan amongst the members. To this day I am really the only one that collects and makes terrain so this has really improved everybodys gaming experience.

We agreed to focus our energy and funds on Warhammer as this was, and still is, the game that all members play. In the early stages of the new club era we even managed to draw a few new members with the strong spirit of the club.

Like any othe club we have members that are vey involved in everything the club does and we have the opposite. Doesn't every wargamer know someone that pratically needs to be handed the die to roll or collected to show up at the club? We even have members who enjoy the social element and just want to watch others paint or game just to enjoy the company.

From just calling each other to arrange games or emailing we now have our own forum, website and one member is running a facebook group as well. Everything is done for members to access information as easy as possible and to allow ongoing discussions about rules, games, rumours and anything else.

We have official meetings quarterly and here we plan for the coming quarter. This could involve how to spend some of our funds, whether to keep on track with an army or start a new one or to pick up a new game.

Other games have come up for voting quite a few times but so far they haven't been able to get the majority of the votes. Many kinds of games are played but these belong to the members themselves. So still club funds are only spent on Warhammer Fantasy. But with Age of Sigmar around and the somewhat uncertain future in regards to coming ranges of miniatures from GW it could change. For now we will keep to the 8th edition but are slowly shifting to the community based ruleset and likewise updated army books; one member actually just started a Bretonnian army.

We are a club that wants to grow bigger but not at all costs. Wargaming makes friends no doubt but we prefer to have friends to make wargames. We are aiming for quality rather than quantity. To this sense we are looking for people that "fit" our club in playstyle and temper. I think a hardcore gamer would be bored quickly with us and leave eventually. So why not save us all from the bother and let potential members get to know us, and vice versa.

For the first of the "new" years we landed a great deal with a Danish reseller. This gave the members a greater discount on most miniatures and terrain than some of the employees in the bigger Danish wargaming shops had and still have. This unfortunately ended and we are looking for other ways to get better, cheaper deals. Talks and meetings with several resellers in Denmark were fruitless as none of them were willing to lower their earnings on our purchases. This is of course due to the lower buying power we represent. As most if not all miniatures and games are produced outside Denmark it is difficult to get to the people actually in charge of a certain game and thereby the possibility of deals.

Eventually I came across the Gaming Club Network but skipped it due to it being a UK based network. A few months later in a Goole search I noticed a line say, in short, GCN and foreign clubs. I followed this link and ended up asking how the GCN would feel about a club from Denmark. A month went by and nothing happened....but some time later a mail from the network showed up. This lead to some good talks with David Wise leading up to the GCN AGM and after that also with Dan Caroll. All the while I did some legwork in regards to Danish laws on clubs and insurance and especially in regards to child protection policy. To my knowledge David did some legwork for us as well to propose the expansion.

Somehow things came out to the benefit of us and the liking of the counsel. So here we are!

Today we are a club of 8 members and a few people encircling us not really sure whether to be in or out, as I guess is the case with any club. We are looking forward to a future under the "protective" wing of the Gaming Club Network and to be part of a stronger community in Denmark. We are very proud to be the first club outside of the UK to be welcomed in Gaming Club Network. Many of us having seen the network logo in White Dwarf magazines for some years. It is truly an honour to join the ranks of the GCN.

Something we have never done but at least a few will do now, is travel to the UK for some bigger events. It will be a little different now being part of the network. I myself might also attend some smaller event to liaise with the GCN council members and to met with some of the networks affiliates.

For my personal part I do look forward to the above mentioned events but also to be a part of a strengthening of the Danish community. Especially eventwise as Denmark could benefit from a strong network backing up with expertise and contacts to the developers. Events with good support from manufactorors and developers are dearly missed and would help to gather gamers from all of Denmark.

The enrolment of Denmark is the first of a few big project in the coming years. Another and much bigger project will be the expansion to include other European countries. It will be a huge undertaking to filter throug laws and legislations of all these countries to ensure the Gaming Club Networks ideals and values are protected even across borders.

It is a future I am very proud to be part of.

Thanks for welcoming us!

So if you would like to put your club In the Spolight just drop a mail to dan_C35@hotmail.com.